Vincenzo Natali is still prepping his adaptation of William Gibson's NEUROMANCER, and while it's not concretely a go just yet, he did give an update on the non-watered down script, and Gibson's reaction.

Speaking to Empire, Natali brought news of the original author's approval of the screenplay: "I think the reason that William Gibson has been so supportive of me doing it is that he knows the film won't be homogenized. There's something inherently not mainstream about it, and I want to preserve that. It will be a much bigger film than I've made before, and I would hope that it makes a reasonable amount of money, but I don't think of it as a blockbuster, or even a genre movie per se."

Hugely influential, NEUROMANCER is credited with starting "cyberpunk," something that makes a filmed version worrisome in the wrong hands. "The success or failure of NEUROMANCER will have everything to do with getting the right tone," says the SPLICE director. "There's definitely a potentially bland and uninteresting version of that story [hackers take on behemoth corporation in cyberspace] but what's important is not just what happens in the story, but how it's told and the texture that exists in the world we have to recreate."

"If it really works, it should in some way step outside any particular genre, or at least outside the expectations we have for a science-fiction film. It should be something new. It's absolutely a commercial movie, and everyone's been responding to it as a film that could potentially be successful, but if we were to make it with a big studio I'd be afraid of having those edges rounded off. If we can somehow independently raise $60m, then I'll be operating with total freedom, and that's exciting..."

Natali and co. are still without full funding, but looking to shoot early next year. Natali is a real talent and while it might be a lot to hope for, it'd be great if he could get this off the ground his way. For the full piece, head over to Empire.